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Update on Express Entry

Since Express Entry began on January 1, 2015, it has been necessary for prospective permanent residents to first receive an Invitation to Apply (“ITA”) before submitting an application for permanent residence under one of the following categories:

The Federal Skilled Worker (“FSW”) Class;

The Canadian Experience Class (“CEC”);

The Federal Skilled Trades (“FST”) Class; or

Members of the Provincial Nominee Class who fall within the Express Entry Stream of a Provincial Nominee Program (“PNP”).

Express Entry applicants are selected to receive an ITA based on how many points they are assigned under the Comprehensive Ranking System (“CRS”).

As of April 12, 2017, IRCC had issued a total of 59 rounds of ITAs under Express Entry. A summary of these rounds appears below:

In Round #48 (November 30, 2016), IRCC issued 559 ITAs. Applicants in this round were required to receive at least 786 CRS points. However, it was available only to provincial nominee applicants, which is why the lowest CRS score was much higher than in previous rounds. Provincial nominees receive an additional 600 CRS points if they are nominated under the Express Entry stream of a Provincial Nominee Program.

As I previously reported, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration issued revised Ministerial Instructions on October 21, 2016 (the “2016 Amendments”), which made significant changes to the Express Entry System. These changes came into effect on November 19, 2016.

Many practitioners believed that once the 2016 Amendments came into effect, the lowest eligible CRS score would immediately drop. This was due to the fact that, under the 2016 Amendments, temporary foreign workers holding work permits based on Labour Market Impact Assessments would no longer receive an additional 600 CRS points. However, this proved not to be the case.

Round #48 was technically the first Express Entry round after the 2016 Amendments came into effect but it was made available only to provincial nominees. Round #49 was the first regular Express Entry round after the 2016 Amendments; the lowest CRS score for that round was 497. In other words, there was no immediate drop in the lowest eligible CRS score following the implementation of the 2016 Amendments.

Fortunately, the CRS score has been steadily dropping since Round #50. In the last two rounds, the CRS score was 431 in Round #58 and 423 in Round #59. The CRS score in the most recent round (Round #59) is the lowest that it has been since Express Entry began on January 1, 2015.